Despite the previous post, I've completely lost any taste I had for anything McDonald's, and I think it was singlehandedly accomplished by this video (one of the extras from the Super Size Me! DVD). WARNING: STOP NOW IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE EATING MCDONALDS FRIES.

The other day Suzanne, Amia and I were in Wheaton, which is pretty much where I grew up. There is one place there that is standing like this sweet, tasty beacon of independence and goodness. It's called the Popcorn Store. I've been going there SINCE I WAS 8. Yeah. 24 years. They even used to have my picture on the wall. The Popcorn Store is basically an alley with a roof on it. The address ends in 1/4. Inside the walls are all brick and on one side is a row of candy of all kinds. You walk in, get yourself a little white paper sack, and go to town. You can choose from all kinds of gummy candy (worms, root beer bottles, feet), Charleston Chews (big and little), Junior Mints, red hots, M&Ms, Blow Pops, candy necklaces...okay, I think I have a cavity. They also have popcorn but I know of no self-respecting child that ever went in there to get popcorn. That was for adults. So you fill up your sack and take it to the counter where the candy is all counted by hand and priced in the minds of the employees with a little chart for tax. No registers or anything. Then you squeeze out the door past all the other kids in line and walk slowly through town getting a sugar buzz, ensuring that the dentist gets a new car, and comparing candy, sometimes trading. In a word, a visit to the Popcorn Store was/is bliss.

Amia and I went there the other day to get some candies and I snapped a picture (it's the one with the red door).

Up until recently I actually had my picture up on the wall although you couldn't see my face. Two of my friends and I walked there in sub-zero temperatures in January when I was about 9. We were the only ones in the store and there was a newspaper photographer taking pictures. One of the funny things about the picture was that you could see me stretching to reach the top row of candy jars which is now about head level for me. As I went there today I was thinking that now with the house I grew up in torn down and laying underneath a behemoth McMansion this is my strongest geographical link to my childhood, and how sweet would that be to be able to take my grandkids there some day. And give them cavities.

I've noticed ever since starting this parenting gig that things don't always work out the way I think they will. Particularly before I was a parent, when I thought I had an idea about what parenting was and now that I am one realizing I still have no idea. For example, pre-parental ideal - I'm never taking Amia to McDonald's. She's going to eat fruits and vegetables and grow up vegetarian with a digestive tract unsullied by McDonald's foul fruit and live to be a 100. Enter reality. We're on our first car trip, which at first was fraught with tension and anxiety for all because Amia was still leaving the stage of howling for the duration of her time in the car seat. We've packed a bunch of healthy food and toys. Halfway into our 6 hour drive we've eaten all our snacks and no matter how much we try to make a stuffed dog interesting again Amia ain't having it. So we're tired, hungry, tense, and Amia's completely bored and about to really let us know. We pull over to get gas and...oh, there's a McDonald's. With Happy Meals that have little toys in them. And there's an indoor playground. Damn they're good. We all get a much needed break and pretty soon Amia learns Golden Arches=fun and food!

Then recently we went to Ikea to get some furniture. Did you know they have a drop-in center?! Amia's now big enough and independent enough to enjoy herself for the first time. I can't tell you how nice it was to know that she was having fun, with the ball pool and tea sets and coloring station and all the other kids, and Suzanne could study in the cafe while I walked around looking for what we needed, unhurried, free of the need to know where the bathrooms are at all times. It. Was. So. Nice. But when I thought about it, I was like, IKEA JUST BABYSAT AMIA! Am I okay with that? YES! I now find myself daydreaming about going there again, Amia meeting new kids and scampering about, and where Suzanne and I can spend quality time together talking in the cafe. During the day, instead of at 10pm when we're both exhausted.

You can say a lot about multinationals like these, but I never thought I'd say that they make things easier for me as a parent. These kinds of things should take place in our communities and in our neighborhoods, but I find myself strangely appreciative of these financial monoliths that have made these family services available, for a variety of reasons and with an equal variety of consequences that have to be reflected on. I can tell you that's something I never thought about before becoming a parent.